Highway-crossing signal



C. R. GRAVES HIGHWAY CROSSING SIGNAL Jan. 5, 1926. 1,568,220

Filed March 51, 1925 2 sheets-sheet 1 /6 j RAILRUAD I r Egt/- [jnngsms I| w 1 f Jan. 5, 1926. 1,568,220

C. R. GRAVES HIGHWAY CROSSING SIGNAL Filed March 31, 1925 Patented Jan. 5, 1926.

UNITED STATES CARL R. GRAVES, F CLARION, IOWA.

HIGHWAY-CROSSING SIGNAL.

ilppleationA led March 31, 1925.

T 0 all/whom t may concern Be it known that I. Caen R. Greaves, av

citizen of the United States, residing atlarion; in the county of `Tfright and State of Iowa, have invented certain new' and useful l improvements' in Highway-Crossing Sign als,'of which the following is a specilication, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, i WThis invention relates to" signals to" be used where a highway crosses a railway, and particularly to certain improvements upon the semaphoresignal and actuating devices which are illustrated in my Patent itl,- 506,63() grantedon the 26th day of August,

One of the object-s of the present invention is to provide a signal particularly adapted to be used in connection with the actuating device for railway crossing signals illustrated and described in my pending application Serial .l-7,072, led February 5, f1925.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a semaphore and signal mechanism which will permit the semaphore arm to drop*` to its clear position no matter how fast the train which actuatesl the signal is traveling,`and in this connection lto provide a semaphore arm t il" and connected Hsignal which will drop'no faster when under the action of a fast train than it will under the action of a slow train, or in which the semaphore arm is controlled entirely by the action of gravity and, therefore, will oniy drop asv fast as the force of gravity wili permit.

A still further object is to provide an operating` mechanism for this signal which isso constructed. thatl high speed trains can put the signal to clear position without causing unnecessary strain on I the semaphore arm and the signal mechanism carried thereby.

Another object is to provide a sen'iaphore arm which is urged to its danger position by a spring.

@ther objects have to do with the details of construction and arrangement of parts as will appear more fully hereinafter.

"9 My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is an elevation of a highway signal constructed in accordance with my invention, showing in dotted iincs the safety position of the signal;

semi No. 19,659.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through the lamp housing;

Figure 3 is a front elevation of the bell crank 34;

Figure et is a fragmentary elevation of the link 41;

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic plan view of a track and the connections between the operating mechanism of the signal and the train actuated devices along the track;

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the bell crank levers for operating the lever controlling the setting of the signal.

Referring to thesedrawings, 10 designates the signal mast and 11 the semaphore arm which is pivoted to the mast at 13. Fmgaging the upper end of the signal mast 1t) is a support 12 for the light box 21 wit-hin which lanterns are to be disposed. This housing 21 has two bulls-eyes 18 and 19 respectively, the bulls-eye 18 having preferably a red glass with the word Stop formed thereon, while the other bulls-eye may be made of green glass or clear glass with the word Go indicated thereon. Mounted upon the semaphore arm 11 is an arm la which extends out at an angle thereto and is provided with a shield 15 which is adapted to be disposed over either of the bulls-eyes 18 or 19,`and this arm 14 is pivoted upon the pivot 13 and extends forward, `as at 16; and is operatively connected or bolted to the signal arm or semaphore 11. The rear end of the semaphore arm 11 is counterweighted at 17, but this counterweight is less in weight than the weight of the semaphore arm il so that the semaphore arm will descend une( i: gravity when it released.

Pivotally connected to the .semaphore arm is a link 22. This link in turn is pivotally connected at 23 to a hollow tubular sleeve 241 which iits over and has telescopic engagement with a vertical rod 25 which is mounted in guides 26 on the post it). Between the lower guide 26 and the upper guide a coiled spring 27, surrounds this rod, the coiled spring bearing at its lower end upon the lower guide 26 and at its upper end against a shoulder or collar 28 carried by the rod 25. Thus this spring acts to urge the rod 25 upward. Removably pinned to the lower end of the rod 25 below the lower bracket 26 is a shank 29 which rectangular in cross 'section and which passes atits lower end 'through a guide 30 attached to the flee of the mast 10. This shank 29 upon its inner face is recessed at 31 adiacentv its upper end so as to form a. keeper for abolt, as will be later stated. The lower end of this l" shank beyond the guide t) reduced and pivotally connected to a rod i iounted upon the opposite face of the m: it l() from the member 29 is an outwardly projecting' bracket and pivot-ally mounted upon this bracket is a member 34 which constitutes a bell crank. This member fili is pivoted intermediate its ends to the bracket and at its upper end bent inward or toward the mast 1() and the lower portion of this bell cra k is bifurcated or forked at 35. ounted upon the mast is an approximately isi-shaped bracket 3G which constitutes a rui-:le for the outer end of al latch bolt 3T. latch bolt pas; s through an il opcafiinp in the mast 10 and through a g plate 38 attached tothe face of the ma and this last bolt is adapted to en,l recess 31 to thereby lock the rot. 05 32 and the member 29 in their lowered position. A spring` 39 acts to force the bolt out-.vurd. The rear end of this bolt has a transversely extending' pin it() and the rear end of the bolt is embraced by the fork 255 and the curved lower end of the fork 35 enbehind this pin Ll0. The upper end of the bell crank lever 34 connected to a link composed of two parallel members i111 spaced apart t'o pass over thebrackets 3? and 3G, and this link extends downward and riveted at its lower vend to rod 4Q. lilith the construction so far described, it is obvious that assumingthe signal arm to be depressed, the rod 23 under these circumstances is depressed, as is the member 29, and the bolt 37 will engage inthe recess 8l. lf now a train approaches a crossingand reaches a certain predetermined position, it engages a member which, as will be hereafter described, exerts a strain. upon t5 the rod -l-l. rhis will draw downward on i2 and yoke -tl and this'will pull -,r.;-.*ard upon the upper portion of the crank lever 3st, causing' its lower end to ract the l: ch 2i. rThis will release the ch from its engagement with the keeper on member whereupon the sprii 27 acari" against the shoulder Q8 will urge this rod 25 upward, carrying` with it the sleeve 2l ac'ainstwhich the upper end of (iii 'l rod abuis and shifting," the semaphore to i raise` or danger position and shifting trie shield 15 over the bulls-eye 19 so that fie 1S is unohscured and the word Stop is displayed. vfhen the last car of the train has passed theA crossing, as is fully described in my application til f February 5, 1925, Serial #7,072, an actiuf ing device will, through mechanism to lbe later described, pull uponthe rod 32, drawdownward on rod member 29 l a till rod 25. No matter how fast the train is going` these parts will shift downward with rapidity and will be caused by the vspringprojected latch 27 engaging` the 'keeper 31, but this withdrawal of the rod 25 releases the signal' arm 11 and the signal arm will then descend more or less slowly by gravity. The speed of the downv-.fard movement of the signal arm depends entirely upon the `difference between the weight of the arm 11 and the counterweight 1T. lf this difference in weight is great, the signal arm will descend to its afety position very 'rapidl-c. lf, on the other hand, the difference is Slight it will descend very slowly. Therefore, it will be obvious that the speed of descent of this arnrll may be very readily controlled. As the arm 11 descends.. it carries the shield 15 from in front of the bulls-eye 19 to a position in front ofthe bulls-'e 7e Y18, the word Stop is obscured andthe word (lo, which is on the bulls-eye .lfis exhibited.

lt will be understood that the pull upon the rod i2 occurs as a tra-in reaches a certain distance from the highway crossing, as fully set forth in my patent above referred to and the application above referred to, and that the semaphore arm remains in its danger or stop position until the last car of the train has passed the crossing, whereupon, through mechanism illustrated and described in the patent before referred to and in t-he application above noted, the rod 32 is pulled, which withdraws the support for the sleeve 24; andthe semaphore descends to its safety position.

Certain mechanism for connecting,` the rods and 42 to the actuating` devices disposed along the track is illustrated in my patent and this construction, as will b'e seen from Figures and G, comprises a pair of levers 43 and 4A, the lever tbeing pivoted upon a pivot pin d5 mounted upon' a supporting stand y4G, and the lever ad being mounted upon a pivot pin on a stand fr?. The lower fece of each of the levers A13 and fl--VIL .is provided with a transversely extending pin a8. Mounted uponthe same stand d6 and upon the same pivot -lare two bell crank levers 49 and 50, it being understood that there are a pair of these bell crank levers for each of the levers 3 and l-l. T he bell crank lever li9 for the lever lr-3 'is connected to a rod 51 while the bell crank lever i() for the lever #til is connected to :i connecting rod 52. The bell crank lever 1 -9 for the lever is connected toa rod 53, while the bell crank lever 50 for the lever -l-l is connected to a rod 511. The connecting' rods 5l and :L extend to bell cranks and which have connecting rods 57 and 5S extending along the track, these rods connecting to the settinplevers which are disposed beside the track and actuated by the arrival of a tra' i auproaehing` the crossing.

The rods 5'3 and. 54 are connected to bell crank levers 58 and 59, which in turn are connected to rods 60 and 61 which connect to the depressible restoring levers mounted at the side of the track and actuated when the last car has passed the highway crossing.

The actuating devices whereby pull is exerted upon these rods 57, 60 and .61 form the subject-matter of my application tiled February 5, 1925, Serial #7,072, previously re ferred to, and these levers are shown diagrammatically in the present application and the setting levers, as they may be called, are designated 62, while the levers which restore the signal to its safety position or release the signal are designated 63. As certain levers for this purpose are fully shown in my patent before referred to and the preferable form of these levers and their connections are fully shown in the application before referred to,. it is not believed necessary to illustrate these levers or the particular connections of the levers to the rods 57, 60 and 61.

It will be understood that assuming a single track is used, the setting levers 62 will be disposed at a considerable distance up and down the track so that a train approaches the crossing from either direction the front wheels of the train will operate these levers and in doing so will exert a. pull either upon the bell crank or the bell crank 56. Assuming that a pull is exerted upon the bell crank 55 and that the signal is in its safety or lowered position, `then the operation of the bell crank will cause a pull upon the rod 51. This will de press the bell crank lever 49 for lever 43 and cause the depression of this lever 43 without, however, affecting the bell crank lever 50. The depression of the klever 43 will cause a `pull to be exerted upon'the rod 42, releasing the latch bolt 37 from its engagement with the member 29, and the spring 27 will shift the rod 25 upward until the collar 28 reaches the bracket 26. The upward n'iovement of the rod 25 will raise the sleeve 24 and lift the signal to its danger position, as before described, A like movement will be transmitted to the rods 32 and 25 and to the signal upon the approach of a train from the other direction which will operate the bell crank lever 50. The train moves onto and across the crossing andas soon as the last car has passed the crossing, the last Wheels of the car will act to depress the restoring lever 63 and this will exert a pull upon the cor-` responding rod or 61 which will shift the corresponding bell crank lever 58 or 59. This will exert a pull upon one of the rods 53 or and the corresponding bell crank 49l or 50l will be depressed, drawing down the lever 44 and thus exerting a pull upon the rod 32. This rod B2, therefore, will be position.

depressed againstthe action of the spring and when it reaches the full extent of its downward movement the bolt Si' will snap into place, locking this rod 32 and the part 29 and the rod 25 depressed and permitting the signal to descend by gravity, as before described. Springs 64 act to return the levers 49 andy 50 and 49 and 50 `to their initial positions.

It will be seen that the mechanism which I have described heretofore is the same in principle as the mechanism which was de scribed in my prior application and patent, but that it differs from the mechanism illust-lated in my patent by the fact that in the patent the signal was pulled to its safety position by the depression of an actuating device r setting lever and did not drop to its safety position by the action of graity, and in my prior patent this signal was held in its depressed position by means of a spring latch. Then this latch was released through the action of the restoring levers mounted upon the track, a spring acted to shift the semaphore to its danger Inasmuch as the semaphore was shifted yto its danger position through a number of links and levers, there would be a great deal of inertia and as a consequence there would be a great dea-l of strain upon the semaphore signal. It would drop too suddenly and quickly and it was to obviate this diiculty that I have provided the present construction where the semaphore arm is not directly connected to the actuating means but is pushed upward into its danger position by a spring and is shifted to its safety position entirely by the action of gravity.

It is to be noted that in this construction the spring 27 acts only to force upward on the parts 25, 29, 32 and t-he bell crank 44 and that the upward movement does not in any Way affect the levers 49n or 501 nor the links extending therefrom over to the railway rails and up the track, and that, en the other hand, the spring 39, when it proje-ris the bolt 37, only has to move the parts 34-, 41 and 42 and the lever 43. `It will, there fore, be seen that the levers 43 and 44 and the bell crank levers 4.9 and 59 and 49:l and 50 are very necessary parts of the stand itself, as without the use of these bell crank levers 44, 43, 49, 50 and 50 the si gnai would not properly operate as it would be impossible for the springs 27 and B9 to act against the inertia of a long series of con` neeting rods, levers, ete., extending up and down the track. n

Thile I have illustrated a construction which I have found to be particularly convenient and effective, I do not wish to be limited to the details of construction iliustrated as these might be varied in many ways without i'leparting from the spirit of 'ward a spring actuated the invention. leither do l wish to be limited to the use of the signaling mechanism and its stand in connection with the exact system of actuating levices illustrated in my application #7,072, filer1 February 5, 1925, nor the construction illustrated in my patent, though this signalii j mechanism has been particuleiigV designed with relation to the construction illustrated in my pending application.

l claim :H

l. A crossing signal for railways including a support, a sional arm mounted on said support and urged by gravity to a lowered position, a vertieally shittable nicmber aoapted, when raised, to hold the signal arm raised, train-actuated means for shitting the member downward to thereby permit the signal arm to drop to its safety position, means urging the shittable member upward, means latching the shittable membe in its lowered position, and trainactuarted means for releasing` said latch.

A crossing s nal for railroads including a support, a signal arm. mounted on the support and urged to a lowered position, a vertically shilitable member separate from but disposed to engage the armin its upward movement and thereb lift the arm, train controlled means it'or li i the member and thereby lifting the arm to raised position, and train controlled means tor low-- ering the member to thereby permit the arm to drop to its lowered position.

A crossing signal for railroads including a support, a signal arm mounted on the support and urged to a lowered position, a vertically shiitable member separate from but disposed to engage the arm on its upward movement and lift the arm, a spring urging said member upward, train controlled means for lowering themember, a latch holding the me nber lowered, and train actuated means for releas g said latch to permit the member to raise said aru'i.

l. A. crossing signal for railways including a support, a signal arm piif'otally mounted upon the supoort and urged by gravity to a lower-et position, a vertically shiftable member separate from but disposed to engage the arm on its upward movement and lift the arm to a danger position, a spring urging said member upadapted to hold the member lowered, and train controlled means for releasing said latch.

o. A crossing `ignal for railways including a post, a signal arm pivotally mounted upon the post and urged by gravity to a lowered or safety iosition, a vertically disposed rod mounted upon the post, a spring urging said rod to a raised position, a latch holding the rod in a lowered position, a member mounted upon the arm and extending parallel to the rod, the member and rod having telescopic limited movement, train controlled means for releasing the latch, and train actuated means for lowering said rod against the action of the spring.

6. .A crossing signal for railroads includ- .ing a vertical mast, a signal arm pivotally mounted on the mast and urged vby gravity to a lowered position, a vertically shiftable member mounted upon the mast andl separate from but disposed to operatively engage and litt the arm on its upward movement and on its reverse movement to permit the a im to descend by gravity, a spring urging said member upward, a latch holding the member lowered against the action of the. spring, train controlled means for releasing the latch to thereby permit the rod to raise the signal arm to its danger position, and train controlled means for lowering said rod.

7. A crossing signal lor railroads including a vertical mast, a signal arm pivotally mounted on the mast and urged by gravity to a lowered position, a vertically shiftable member mounted upon the mast and separate from but disposed to operatively enand lift the arm on its upward movement and on its reverse movement to permit the rm to descend by gravity, a spring urging said member upward, a latch holding the member lowered against the action oi the spring, train controlled means Jfor releasing the latch to thereby permit the rod to raise the signal arm to its danger position, and train controlled means for leweing said rod, the 'ignal arm carrying a vertically movable socket and the upper end of the rod being inserted in said socket.

8. The combination with a line of track and a siding, of a highway crossing signal disposed along the track and including a signaling member urged to a safety position, a vertically shit'table member resiliently urged in a direction to litt the signal-- ing member to a danger position, alatch holding' the vertically shittable menlber in its lowered position, train opeimted means on both sides oi" the railway cross4 and remote from the signal for releasing the latch to permit the signal to shift to danger position upon the approach of a train, train operated means on both sides of and adjacent the. signal operatively connected to the vertically shiftable member to cause the downward movement ot the vertically shittable member when a train engages said train operated means, each of said means being independently operable and each being operated only by a train receding from the signal.

9. A crossing signal for railroads including a mast, a signal arm pivotally mounted upon the mast and movable downward by gravity, a vertically shittable member mounted upon the mast below the signal lill lll() arm, a spring urging said member upward, a member carried by the signal arm and having limited telescopic engagement with the first named member whereby to cause the first named member to lift the signal arm upon an upward movement but permit the signal arm to descend by gravity when the first named member is lowered, a spring urging the first named member upward, a latch bolt holding the first named member in its lowered position, a spring urging the latch bolt into engagement with the mem ber, a bell crank lever mounted upon the mast and having one end thereof engaged with the latch bolt, train controlled means operated upon the approach of a train toward the crossing for actuating said connection to the bell crank lever to thereby release the latch bolt and permit the upward movement of the irst named vertically movable member and the lifting of the signal arm to danger position, and means actuated by a recession of the train from the crossing for reti-acting the first named member against the action of said spring to thereby permit the signal arm to descend by gravity.

In testimony whereof I hereunto ailix my si gnature.

ACARL R. GRAVES. 

